Pokemon Origins: File 3 Giovanni – Review and Initial Thoughts

“Red arrives in Saffron City to find Team Rocket’s fingerprints on everything, but what lies in store at Viridian City may be the biggest surprise yet.” – Pokémon TV excerpt

Initial Thoughts

I was waiting for Giovanni to show up, and he did! He posed much more of a threat in this Pokémon TV special than the original anime. I was not expecting him to slaughter Red as bad as he did, since I was always able to defeat him easily in the video games. Of course, Giovanni being the boss of Team Rocket, he had to be shown as a formidable opponent compared to a child.

Review

Like the second episode of Pokemon Origins, this episode skips over much of the nonessential pieces of information to push the story along. Once we continue, we see the Celadon City’s Gym Leader Erika, Team Rocket’s secret hide out below the Game Corner, Snorlax, the Fishing Guru with the Super Rod, Fuchsia City’s Gym Leader Koga, and Red’s Charmeleon evolves into Charizard!

The first thing that came to my mind was “Who is this secretary?” I don’t ever remember her in the video games. If she was there, she must have been a random NPC that I skipped over. She played a much more pivotal role in Pokemon Origins than the video game, which Pokemon Origins is based off of.

The secretary informs Red and Blue about the Master Ball, Silph Co.’s newest piece of technology, and how Team Rocket plans to use it to capture Pokémon against their will. Red then breaks into Silph Co. and frees caged wild Pokémon and imprisoned scientists, one scientist thanks him by giving him a Lapras.

Red then faces off against Giovanni in the Silph Co. president’s office. Giovanni gets annoyed by Red’s constant intrusion of Team Rocket’s plans and battles him using his Nidoqueen. Red counters with his newly evolved Charizard and gets slaughtered by Giovanni’s superior Pokémon.

Red then continues with his adventure by obtaining the Marsh Badge from Saffron City’s Gym Leader Sabrina, faces off against the Pokémon Dojo and chooses Hitmonlee, visits the Pokémon Mansion on Cinnabar Island, battles Cinnabar Island Gym Leader Blaine and wins the Volcano Badge. He then rushes off to face the Viridian City Gym.

Red then finds out that the Viridian City Gym Leader is the Team Rocket Boss Giovanni. He then faces off against Giovanni, not as a Gym Leader, but as “the enemy of all Pokémon”. Giovanni chooses his two strongest Ground-type Pokémon, Rhyhorn and Rhydon. Rhyhorn takes down five of Red’s six Pokémon. Charizard then ultimately defeats Rhydon with a well-timed Seismic Toss.

After being defeated, Giovanni disbands Team Rocket and vows to rekindle the love of Pokémon that he once had.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed this episode much more than the previous two. Red’s battles with Giovanni kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I kept wanting to see what he did next. I’m sad that we only have one more episode left, but I’m sure we won’t be disappointed.

Did you notice Giovanni’s voice? Listen carefully, then go watch the first Pokémon movie. Sound familiar now? Yep, that’s voice actor Dan Green, the original voice of Mewtwo (and Entei, Yugi and the Pharaoh). How fitting that Dan Green voices both Team Rocket’s Boss Giovanni and his ultimate Pokémon Mewtwo (from the anime, of course). Honestly, I wanted him to yell out, “IT’S TIME TO DUEL!”

Like I said in the review of the previous two Pokemon Origins episodes, I will be watching the original Japanese version after completing the English version.

The next episode of Pokemon Origins will release on Pokémon TV on November 22, 2013.